ice sculpture festival

a couple of weekend my sister and I went to the Ice Sculpture Festival in Canary Wharf. a bit of a random last minute decision, and definitely not the sort of thing we would normally go to, but we ended up having a really awesome day out! I love trying new things and learning about something I didn't know anything about before!

gemma rocking her Lazy Oaf beanie (it was absolutely FREEZING - they definitely picked the right weekend for a festival of ice!)

although I have lived in London all my life I had never really been to Canary Wharf before - it's such a strange area!

 you could play a game of ice chess - the pieces were slid around the icy board using something that looked suspiciously like a hockey stick!

 they had a graffiti wall made of ice that you could have a go at carving into - it was a LOT harder than it looked and although I tried very hard to carve my name the 'o' was my downfall

 they had a gourmet burger kitchen bus, which was incredible, but in the end I opted for one of the GIANT savoury muffins which was very yummy but possibly the densest substance I have ever consumed

the main attraction of the festival were the sculpting competitions - teams and individuals from around the world come to the festival to compete for some pretty big money prizes (and of course fame and adoration!) they were carving at various points around the festival so you could watch them at work. it was mesmerising (and sadly not at all like in Edward Scissorhands!)

 yeah, they use a CHAINSAW for parts of the carving - I've never seen anything like it before!

GO TEAM UK (although I may be biased, I did think the UK one was pretty incredible)

 they even had an area where you could sign up for an ice carving masterclass. you worked in pairs to carve a polar bear from a lump of ice. it was so much fun, and I'm pretty amazed at how polar bear-like our piece turned out!

 giving it the thumbs up of approval!

this has made me want to do/try more things outside of my comfort zone. it's so easy to spend your weekend off sitting in front of the TV, not doing much at all, but by doing something fun and different I felt like I'd actually had a proper break from work. did any other Londoners go to the ice sculpture festival?